‘This is terrible’: West Bengal teachers who fought recruitment scam dismayed by cancellation

KOLKATA: Bandana Karmokar can barely believe it. She is set to lose a much-coveted teaching job she fought a court case for. “I am so confused as to what turn the High Court will take next. I am still unable to understand that all appointments stand cancelled, even those who secured a job after fighting a case?" she said.

Karmokar is among the roughly 23,000 teaching & non-teaching staff in West Bengal’s government schools whose appointment stands cancelled due to a Calcutta High Court order issued on Monday, April 22.

She was an applicant in the West Bengal Central School Service Commission’s selection process that began in 2016. When allegations of the merit list being manipulated came to light, Karmokar sued. Her’s was one of over 90 petitions filed on the West Bengal teacher recruitment issue that year. Upon winning the case, she secured a job as history teacher at Puncha Girls’ High School, Purulia, West Bengal, only to lose it all again.

For about roughly 5,500 staff members, the HC has even ordered recovery of salary drawn with 12% interest within the next four weeks.

WBSSC: ‘Entire selection process is vitiated’

The central problem of the West Bengal teacher recruitment scam, as the Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court noted in the verdict, is that there is still no clarity on the exact extent to which the irregularities spread.

As per the West Bengal SSC’s own statistical report, submitted in court, of the 23,123 total recommendations for appointment of teaching and non-teaching staff, there were “OMR issues” – possible manipulation of the Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) – with 4,103; “rank jumping” in 224 cases and “alleged irregularities” in 2,586 cases.

WBSSC statistical report on job recommendations and alleged irregularities

These are the cases that the SSC was able to identify. The HC judgement also points out that far more appointment letters, over 25,700, were issued than were recommended by the SSC.

“In course of hearing SSC did not discount the fact that possibilit[y] of further illegalities exists," the judgement says.

This, along with the unavailability of original OMR sheets and the “non-cooperative stand of SCC, State and Board” have “effectively ruled out an exercise of shifting the grains from the chaff”, says the judgement, meaning that it is now impossible to tell genuine candidates from participants in the fraud.

“We are therefore constrained to hold that since the entire selection process is vitiated, all appointments given thereunder are required to be cancelled. All appointments granted thereunder are declared null and void,” said the bench.

West Bengal School Jobs Scam: ‘This is terrible’

Over 23 lakh candidates appeared for the state-level selection test (SLST) conducted by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) in 2016, for 24,640 vacant posts. The court cases following the allegations of corruption were similarly plentiful – over 340 petitions, starting from 2016, and appeals and many more in response to rulings of single judges.

Moushumi Ghosh, who never got a job but was on the waitlist had also sued hoping the court would help sift “grains from the chaff” but the outcome has not helped. “This is terrible, “ she said. “I am telling myself to feel better and thank my luck for not getting the job. What about those who got the job and now have to return the salaries of all these years with 12 percent interest?”

"Persons who had been appointed outside the panel, after the expiry of the panel as also those who submitted blank OMR sheets but obtained appointments, must return all remunerations and benefits received by them to the State exchequer along with interest calculated at 12 percent per annum, from the date of receipt thereof till deposit, within a period of four weeks," the order said. District magistrates under whose jurisdiction the candidates reside have been tasked with ensuring the salaries are recovered.

West Bengal teacher recruitment scam

The 2016 recruitment round was for assistant teachers and Group C and Group D staff for Classes 9 to 12. The test was being conducted by the WBSSC. Data seized from a private agency contracted to scan and evaluate the OMR sheets revealed huge discrepancies in the the sheets. The April 22 verdict says appointments were given to persons who submitted blank OMR sheets.

When the irregularities were revealed and investigation begun, the WBSSC applied for permission to create supernumerary posts to accommodate the illegal appointees.

"This has been going on for so long. Previously, too, there were court orders, but neither the West Bengal Education Department nor the state government paid any heed. They did not take any corrective actions but came up with supernumerary posts," said Manish Chakraborty (name changed on request), head teacher of a prominent government school in Kolkata.

Teacher recruitment has continued to be plagued by corruption. In May, 2023, the Calcutta High Court cancelled the services of over 30,000 non-trained primary school teachers because appointments were made without following procedure.

In 2022, the enforcement directorate (ED) sought information from the West Bengal Board of Primary Education regarding the appointment of primary school teachers since 2011.

West Bengal Teachers Recruitment Case: What next?

Karmakar is praying she is able to retain her job, which she secured legally.

Moushumi Ghosh is pursuing a master's in education at Netaji Subhas Open University. Ghosh completed her B.Ed from Gourangdi B.Ed College in Asansol, a private college under Burdwan University, in 2014.